“Operacion Salida” – The Great Easter Gettaway

The first major holiday of the year is upon us with vast numbers of friends and families heading to villages and coastal resorts en masse for the first time since the pandemic hit in March 2020.

This year will be a big test for traffic safety especially so as the Easter period traditionally sees significant spikes in accidents and road deaths.

The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) expects some 3.7 million cars to hit the road to undertake long distance road trips and an estimated 14.6 million journeys over the Easter period.

The figure is almost at the level before the pandemic hit but still 2.1% less than in 2019.

In order to curtail the number of road accidents, the DGT  have released a safety awareness campaign to save lives, including using a “big data” prediction of 36 road deaths in the coming week.

The video with the title of Make Big Data Wrong features recently deceased motorists who have died this Easter and urging motorists to follow traffic regulations  in effort to reduce the number of expected accidents and deaths.

This year motorists will need to contend with new traffic regulations and record petrol prices.

The Civil Guard will be manning speed controls and check points to monitor everything from alcohol and drug taking to checking for correct seatbelt and mobile phone use.

The first phase began last Friday 8th April as many schools in Madrid finished early this year. The next rush is expected on Wedneday 13th April as office workers get their holidays and then over the weekend finishing on Monday 18th April for the return.

If you are planning a road journey in Spain you can check any traffic or accidents on the country´s motorway network HERE :

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPANISH NEWS